HP 2009 Annual Report Download - page 28

HP’s stock price has historically fluctuated and may continue to fluctuate, which may make future prices of
HP’s stock difficult to predict.
HP’s stock price, like that of other technology companies, can be volatile. Some of the factors that
could affect our stock price are:
• speculation in the press or investment community about, or actual changes in, our business,
strategic position, market share, organizational structure, operations, financial condition,
financial reporting and results, effectiveness of cost cutting efforts, value or liquidity of our
investments, exposure to market volatility, prospects, business combination or investment
transactions, or executive team;
• the announcement of new products, services, technological innovations or acquisitions by HP or
its competitors;
• quarterly increases or decreases in revenue, gross margin, earnings or cash flow from operations,
changes in estimates by the investment community or guidance provided by HP, and variations
between actual and estimated financial results;
• announcements of actual and anticipated financial results by HP’s competitors and other
companies in the IT industry; and
• the timing and amount of share repurchases by HP.
General or industry specific market conditions or stock market performance or domestic or
international macroeconomic and geopolitical factors unrelated to HP’s performance also may affect
the price of HP common stock. For these reasons, investors should not rely on recent trends to predict
future stock prices, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In addition, following
periods of volatility in a company’s securities, securities class action litigation against a company is
sometimes instituted. If instituted against HP, this type of litigation could result in substantial costs and
the diversion of management time and resources.
Our revenue, cost of sales, and expenses may suffer if we cannot continue to license or enforce the
intellectual property rights on which our businesses depend or if third parties assert that we violate their
intellectual property rights.
We rely upon patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret laws in the United States, similar laws
in other countries, and agreements with our employees, customers, suppliers and other parties, to
establish and maintain intellectual property rights in the technology and products we sell, provide or
otherwise use in our operations. However, any of our direct or indirect intellectual property rights
could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented, or such intellectual property rights may not be
sufficient to permit us to take advantage of current market trends or otherwise to provide competitive
advantages, either of which could result in costly product redesign efforts, discontinuance of certain
product offerings or other competitive harm. Further, the laws of certain countries do not protect
proprietary rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States. Therefore, in certain jurisdictions
we may be unable to protect our proprietary technology adequately against unauthorized third-party
copying or use; this too could adversely affect our competitive position.
Because of the rapid pace of technological change in the information technology industry, much of
our business and many of our products rely on key technologies developed or licensed by third parties.
We may not be able to obtain or continue to obtain licenses and technologies from these third parties
at all or on reasonable terms, or such third parties may demand cross-licenses to our intellectual
property. In addition, it is possible that as a consequence of a merger or acquisition, third parties may
obtain licenses to some of our intellectual property rights or our business may be subject to certain
restrictions that were not in place prior to the transaction. Consequently, we may lose a competitive
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